Tag: russia

I was sitting in front of the TV — not something I do often, I assure you — and for some reason or another my mind wandered towards Germany. I think it was a war film. Anyway, I had a little ponder, a little brainstorm, and I came to the conclusion that I actually know very little about Germany. I also assumed that other people might not know much about pre-War Germany too! Perhaps people study the history of Germany…

I’ve been storing up a few photos over the past couple of weeks — they’re not mine, they’re just great photos from various news sources. Think of this as a very small National Geographic, with no where near as much editorial. The first up is this startling picture of self-mutilation — it might look like tomato juice, but it’s actually blood. Shiite Muslims mark the end of Ashoura — the anniversary of the prophet Mohammed’s grandson’s death, Imam Hussein —…

Hail, comrades! The Russian Monologue: (If you can’t see the player, you’ll have to visit my blog) All of this bleak, cold and snowy thing got me thinking of my friends over in Serbia, Czech Republic and the other Eastern Bloc states. When I was in Serbia a couple of years ago, there was an unseasonable warmth, 20C in October! Then in the last 6 hours of my stay, it dropped to -5C, and the entirity of Belgrade was covered…